Oct 30- The Sunday Edition
Day 249: Lapin, UA drone, ITA, FR, 218 grain ships, Belarus, Steinmeier, ICC, Dover, Liz's phone, US elex, World Series- A&Ps- The Spy Museum, Aslund, Belton, Grozev, Schmitt, Klychlo
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Russian losses within 24 hrs are setting a new records: 950 KIA, 13 tanks, 52 armored vehicles (including IFVs), 19 artillery pieces (including 3 MLRS). These are the highest troop losses reported since daily reporting started back in early March.
Stories we’re following…
The entire 11th Russian Army Corps of Kaliningrad, which has been sent to Ukraine, has been destroyed. 12,000 troops wasted. Kaliningrad itself is currently defenseless.
Aleksandr Lapin, who commanded the Russian group "Center" in the war against Ukraine, has been removed from his post, as reported by Russian soldiers. We are awaiting confirmation from the Ministry of Defense of the RF and other security forces.
Russia blamed Britain for the Nord Stream leak and Black Sea Fleet attacks Russian conspiracies about a British-Ukrainian nexus extend even to "staging" the Bucha Massacre.
Russia’s defence ministry said it has recovered and analysed the wreckage of drones used to attack ships of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea yesterday. The ministry said its analysis showed that the drones were equipped with Canadian-made navigation modules.
Haluk Bayraktar said that his company is going to start arming the Bayraktar TB2 and Bayraktar Akinci strike UAVs with air-to-air missiles to combat drones like the Iranian Shahed-136.
The USA will transfer to Ukraine 4 satellite communication systems that can work outside of Starlink.
A total of 218 vessels are “effectively blocked” due to Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in a grain export deal, Ukraine‘s infrastructure ministry said on Sunday, Reuters reports.
Turkey’s defence minister is in talks with counterparts in Moscow and Kyiv to try to revive the U.N.-brokered deal for exports of Ukrainian grain, the ministry said on Sunday.
The United Nations is in contact with Russian authorities following reports that Moscow has suspended participation in a deal that resumed Ukrainian Black Sea grain and fertiliser exports, Reuters reports.
The EU today called on Russia to reverse its decision to pull out of a U.N.-brokered deal that enabled Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea amid a global food crisis. “Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the Black Sea deal puts at risk the main export route of much needed grain and fertilisers to address the global food crisis caused by its war against Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Twitter.
Belarus has provided Russia with 65,000 metric tons of ammunition since March. According to Belarusian watchdog Belarusian Hajun, Minsk has sent around 1,940 railcars with ammunition to Russia since March.
Germany donated 14 generators of various capacities for the units of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine.
Italy and France have reportedly agreed to supply Ukraine with SAMP-T anti air systems.
President Steinmeier’s returning from Kyiv: “a sham peace would only increase Putin’s hunger. Moldova and Georgia, as well as our Nato partners in the Baltic, live in fear […] An unjust peace is no peace — it carries the seed of new wars within it.” (What is going on? Steinmeier?)
A lawsuit against Putin at the International Criminal Court in The Hague is a very real prospect, – European Commissioner for Justice Didier Reynders says in an interview with Die Welt. "For those who have committed war crimes, the risk of being prosecuted remains for the rest of their lives. This, of course, also applies to Putin", – the European Commissioner emphasizes.
A man threw petrol bombs attached with fireworks at a new Border Force immigration centre in Dover then killed himself, a witness has said. The alleged attacker drove up to the centre in a white Seat sports utility vehicle. He got out and threw three petrol bombs, one of which did not go off, according to a photographer for Reuters. One minor injury was reported, Kent police said.
Russia’s listening, Liz…
The Mail on Sunday newspaper reported that while Truss was foreign secretary private messages between her and foreign officials, including about the Ukraine war, were hacked. The paper reported agents suspected of working for Russia had been responsible for the alleged hacking, citing unnamed sources.
The breach was said to have been discovered when Truss was running for the Tory leadership in the summer, but details were suppressed by then-prime minister Boris Johnson and Cabinet Secretary Simon Case, The Mail on Sunday claimed.
Anders Aslund on Putin and Russia
1. As long as Putin stays in power, repression in Russia will only increase.
2. As long as Putin can, he will pursue wars. The outside world needs to box him in with arms and sanctions.
3. The longer Putin stays in power, the more likely that he causes the dissolution of Russia as ethnic groups that he uses as cannon fodder are likely to revolt as when the USSR fell apart.
4. The cost to both Russians and neighbors of Putin will only increase over time. The earlier he is being terminated the better for all but Putin.
5. Just like Stalin and Hitler, Putin is the worst possible dictator, so his replacement must be an improvement.
6. The Russian economy will continue to decline as long as Putin stays in power because of his kleptocracy and Western sanctions.
7. Yet, Putin may be able to pursue a frightful war of attrition for a long time.
Conclusion: The West needs to adopt a clear goal on Russia: the termination of Putin and his regime just as President Biden so wisely stated in Warsaw.
Catherine Belton, Russia’s security service works to subvert Moldova’s pro-Western government- WaPo
When thousands of protesters gathered last month outside Moldova’s presidential palace calling for the country’s pro-Western leader to step down, the man behind the demonstration — an opposition party leader in exile in Israel — soon received plaudits from Moscow.
One senior Russian politician praised the protest organizer, Ilan Shor, as “a worthy long-term partner” and even offered the Moldovan region led by Shor’s party a cheap Russian gas deal, according to Shor’s press service. Referred to as “the young one” by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), the 35-year-old Shor is a leading figure in the Kremlin’s efforts to subvert this former Soviet republic, intelligence documents and interviews with Moldovan, Ukrainian and Western officials show.
Eric Franklin Amarante, Opinion: Your tax dollars are subsidizing white supremacy- LA Times
What’s the difference between UCLA and the KKK? Or a neo-Nazi and a Girl Scout? These are not set-ups for jokes. They are questions the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee recently spent 2½ hours trying to answer. This is because many white supremacist groups enjoy the same tax-exempt status as public universities, churches and other charities — simply by claiming to be educational.
In what world are white supremacists considered educational and therefore charitable? This is not just an academic issue. We now know that white supremacist theories inspire mass shooter after mass shooter. Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Whittier) did not exaggerate at the hearing when she said that “people have lost their lives because of the vile hatred that is spewed by these groups.”
Musk spreading disinformation about Paul Pelosi…
Russian talking points at the World Series…
Olga Lautman comments: This is what Trump’s people are pushing. Citizens for Sanity is connected to several former Trump aides. Who is funding this demand to end aid to Ukraine? Nonetheless during the World Series. Outrageous.
Donating to Ukraine…
